How long does it take to charge an electric vehicle?
This is something like asking how long it will take to fill a swimming pool with water. It depends on a few things, like pool size and the amount of water you have set to come out of the hose. If you turn up the water, it will fill faster. If you have a large pool it will obviously take longer to fill than a small pool at the same rate. Pretty simple stuff, right?
There are similar variables that apply when determining the amount of time to charge an electric vehicle. Determining the charge time for your BEV (battery electric vehicle) or PHEV (plug-in hybrid electric vehicle) is simple with 3 key pieces of information:
- Vehicle Acceptance Rate (aka the car’s charger, in kW)
- Vehicle Battery Capacity (in kWh)
- Charging Station Delivery Rate (aka the stations’ max output capacity, in kW)
Here are some examples using the chart below:
A) A Toyota Rav4 EV charging with an LCS-25 charging station with 240V:
- Check the Vehicle Acceptance Rate versus the Charging Station Delivery Rate for the LCS-25. Which is lower? That will be your limiting factor. The Vehicle Acceptance Rate of the Toyota Rav4 EV is 9.6 kW. The LCS-25 Delivery Rate is 4.8 kW. Use 4.8 kW because it is the lower of the two numbers (this is the maximum power the charging station can deliver to the vehicle).
- Divide the battery capacity by the lower number from above. Divide 41.8 kWh by 4.8 kW from above. The result is 8.71 hours to recharge the battery pack from empty to full.
B) A Toyota Rav4 EV and a CS-50 charging station with 240V:
- Check the Vehicle Acceptance Rate versus the Charging Station Delivery Rate for the CS-50. Which is lower? That will be your limiting factor. The Vehicle Acceptance Rate of the Toyota Rav4 EV is 9.6 kW. The CS-50 Delivery Rate is 9.6 kW. Use 9.6 kW because both are the same (it is both the maximum the vehicle will draw and the maximum power the charging station is capable of delivering).
- Divide the battery capacity by the lowest number from above. Divide 41.8 kWh by 9.6 kW from above. The result is 4.35 hours from empty to full.
Note: For assistance choosing the perfect EV charging station, use our EVSE Selector Tool. Just choose your vehicle from the drop-down list and we will show you our three top choices including charging times (from empty). Happy charging!
|
Vehicle |
Type |
Acceptance Rate (kW) |
Battery Size (kWh) |
Time to complete a full charge (in hours) |
|||
|
Level 1 |
Level 2 |
Level 2 |
Level 2 |
||||
|
PCS-15 (1.4 kW delivery rate with 120V) |
LCS-25 (4.8kW delivery rate with 240V) |
CS-40 (7.2 kW delivery rate with 240V) |
CS-50 (9.6 kW delivery rate with 240V) |
||||
| BMW ActiveE | BEV |
7 |
32 |
22.86 |
6.67 |
4.57 |
4.57 |
| Chevy Volt | PHEV |
3.3 |
16 |
11.43 |
4.85 |
4.85 |
4.85 |
| Fisker Karma | PHEV |
3.3 |
16 |
11.43 |
4.85 |
4.85 |
4.85 |
| Ford Focus EV | BEV |
6.6 |
23 |
16.43 |
4.79 |
3.48 |
3.48 |
| Mitsubishi i-MiEV | BEV |
3.3 |
16 |
11.43 |
4.85 |
4.85 |
4.85 |
| Nissan Leaf | BEV |
3.3 |
24 |
17.14 |
7.27 |
7.27 |
7.27 |
| Nissan Leaf Upgrade | BEV |
6.6 |
30 |
21.43 |
6.25 |
4.55 |
4.55 |
| Tesla Model S | BEV |
19.2 |
85 |
60.71 |
17.71 |
11.81 |
8.85 |
| Tesla Roadster (Model K) | BEV |
17 |
56 |
40.00 |
11.67 |
7.78 |
5.83 |
| Toyota Prius EV | PHEV |
3.3 |
4.4 |
3.14 |
1.33 |
1.33 |
1.33 |
| Toyota Rav4 | BEV |
9.6 |
41.8 |
29.86 |
8.71 |
5.81 |
4.3 |
*Acceptance Rates and Battery Sizes were obtained using Wikipedia and/or manufacturer websites in October of 2012. This chart does not take into account the usable battery % (this means that it won’t actually take you as long to charge your EV as shown in the chart above! This is a good thing 🙂 Example: the Nissan Leaf has an approximate 90% useable battery for charging purposes).
Check out our follow up blog to determine how much it will cost to charge your electric vehicle!
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Charging to 100% usually involves an initial charge rate (max rate as described by your article) followed by a period of lower charging rate as the battery nears 100%. This lower rate is usually determined by the vehicle electronics and extends the amount of time required to actually reach 100%.
Hi Roy! Yes, this is correct. Electric vehicles are in control of how much power they draw from the EVSE. In most cases the vehicle will ramp up to full rate (based on its onboard charger or the max power available through the station) charging pretty quickly and then maintain that level for the bulk of the charging session. Then as the batteries get closer to being full the vehicle will draw lower amounts of power the closer it gets to full. Other factors can also come into play like power being diverted from charging for battery thermal management, battery conditioning and/or cabin climate adjustments.
Since this curve varies by vehicle and other external environmental factors can come into play we work to average out the variable we use in our math on that chart to get a time that is pretty close to what folks should experience in most real world charging scenarios.
If a generator inverter (eBay item number:131824344123
) is rated 230V and 4.37 amps output, then how much time will it take to fully charge a nissan 2013 leaf to 24kwh (assuming it requires a full charge and is nearly empty)?
2nd follow up question … any chance of frying the charging cable which is rated at 30 amps max and 240 volts (Y/N)? It’s a standard chademo trickle charger upgraded to 240 volts to reduce share time at fully capacity to 4-5 hrs instead of the standard 11 or 12 hours.
Hi Al, thanks for your comment and questions! Looking at this generator it appears to be a 230V generator set up with an international type of outlet. We would like to understand your application more and where you will be using the station. Please feel free to contact our Product Specialist Team at 877-694-4194 or information@clippercreek.net.